Jeff Bezos: Free Enterprise Economic System

Imagine waking up to an innovative business idea that, given the right circumstance, could net you a fortune beyond your wildest dreams. That “right circumstance” referred to above would be directly dependent on what economic system you live in and more specifically, being a free enterprise system. That very same free enterprise economic model is exactly what allowed a young boy born in Albuquerque, NM, to grow up and create a company that would grow to be a household name across the globe. That young boy’s name was Jeff Bezos. Bezos would grow up and graduate with degrees in both computer science and electrical engineering from Princeton University. Little did he know that eight years later in 1994, he would come up with the ingenious idea

This can directly be seen as Bezos first developed his idea for Amazon in the year of 1994 after realizing that the internet was growing at a staggering rate of 2,300% yearly. However, at that time it was deemed illegal by the government to conduct commerce over the internet. In our timeline this law was revoked as the internet continued to grow and grow under the free enterprise economic system of the United States. Bezos recognized that this change was going to take place and kept working on his vision of Amazon. If Bezos hadn’t have lived in a free enterprise economy, it is almost certain that government regulations such as that exact one would’ve made it utterly impossible for Bezos to act on his innovation and prosper as he has in our

In this specific economic system, meeting consumer demand can amass a company immense wealth, as it is the consumer who drives the entire economy in a free enterprise system. This competition created by the economy was crucial to the success experienced by Bezos through the growth and development of Amazon. An example of this would be his well-known battle with fellow entrepreneur and Apple CEO, Steve Jobs. Bezos created the Kindle as his first eBook, serving as an alternate option to buying physical books. However, Bezos was not alone in the market for eBooks as Steve Jobs and Apple were experiencing mass success with their own eBook/tablet hybrid, the iPad. The year of 2010 marked a noticeable increase in consumer demand for this new technology on the market, pinning Bezos and his Kindle directly against Jobs and his iPad. This competition created by the economic system drove up sales for both products which would skyrocket the Kindle past traditional books in sales for Amazon. This is just one example of many how the competitive atmosphere created by a free market allows for entrepreneurs to innovate and constantly attempt to keep up with consumer demand, maximizing profit. One argument against the free enterprise system has to